Over 40 Handbook: Hair Loss

Gradual hair loss can affect both men and women as we age. Unfortunately, this can be really devastating for women since men can more easily "pass" with thinning hair or head shaving!

Signs that your hair loss may not be a natural (though undesired) consequence of aging would include:

• sudden occurrence after an illness or other major stress
• painful or itchy hair loss
• hair loss resulting in scarring
• hair loss in patches

Otherwise, if more scalp is showing through at the top or at the temples or your part is getting wider it may be a natural process. Arrggh...

Minoxidil (Rogaine) works well for both men and for women! For it to work, it has to be applied to your scalp twice a day. It is especially helpful if you start it within the first five or so years of noticing hair loss. About 70% of folks get a satisfying increase in hair growth and thickness with this.

Hair transplantation has gotten much better than years ago, but it still requires you to have plenty of hair on the back of your head and can run from $5,000- 15,000 for effective treatment. Ouch.

Flu Shots

'Tis the season!

Any time from the end of this month though end of November is fine for getting yearly flu shots. This will ensure that it will be effective for the flu season which is typically around January and February.

Sorry, but supply problems over the past two or three years have made them hard to get in time so we do not have them this year.

Flu shot clinics are available at community centers, senior centers and retailers such as Long's. Check your local papers for announcements on these, or check here.

My child has a cold...

Cold and flu season is here, and if you have a young child (6 years old, or younger) this can be especially hard since you may not be getting much sleep and having to miss work.

You may also be aware that the federal government is recommending that over the counter cough and cold medicines should not be given to children under six years old. A number of manufacturers are taking them off the shelves.

This is because they not only seem to be ineffective in young children, they can also cause serious side effects especially on the brain and heart.

What you can do to keep your child comfortable is use a cool-mist vaporizer, a bulb for suctioning out mucus and Tylenol for fever.

More here on details and affected brand names and suggestions for safe treatment of cold and flu symptoms.

The Over 40 Handbook: Do you get weaker when you get older?

Short answer: No, but it's use it or lose it.

Long answer:

Up to 80 years old, you don't lose speed, stamina or reflexes compared to 30 years old unless you stop being active.

A medical study looked at folks who stayed competitively active in bicycling, running and swimming between 30 and 80 years old. In competition athletes, there was no significant loss of performance between 30 and 80 years of age!

Now, agreed no one is comparing any of these folks to contact sports athletes or 16 year olds. But, it does show that you can keep your physical fitness and reflexes at 30 year old levels for the next half a century if you keep using your muscles.

Even if you don't perform at competition levels, exercising and walking regularly helps to maintain a healthy weight, prevents high blood pressure and diabetes, and also helps to maintain good bone density and prevent falls.

Use it or lose it!

The Over 40 Handbook

I've noticed there seems to be no shortage of books on your infant, toddler or teen, but none that I've seen that address being older in the same way. Plenty of stuff on specific issues such as medications, menopause, diabetes and so forth. However, no single book that talks about common issues, questions or concerns that arise after 40.

Why after 40?

• It's the second half of average life span.
• Concerns or problems come up that have less to do with poor decision making or impulse control (like accidents and injuries and bad choices in kids and teens) than they have to do with entering "elephant country": the time where you start to see chronic diseases like heart problems, cancer, diabetes and dementia affecting your parents, siblings and friends.

More importantly, there are also a lot of assumptions that get made that are not correct. Examples include assuming that as you get older you have to slow down, lose strength, lose your memory or enjoy sex less.

I get to ask people how old they'd like to be if they could start over quite a lot. How often do you suppose the remark "getting old's a b**ch" comes up?

In nearly every case (with one specific exception, and you know who you are), folks over 65 say 40 or 50 would be it. That was when the kids were grown up and on their own (or at least out of the house...), they were at the peak of their work, and before health problems really got going.

So, bottom line is enjoy over 40 while you're there, and focus on what you can do to be strong, happy and independent at 80. It can be done!

I'll be posting on this regularly, so feel free to comment or request specific topics.

The Appendix: what's it for anyway?

Finally, an answer!

Older Adult Resources

Our county has many resources available for older adults and their families with concerns that often come up around maintaining safety, quality of life, and independence as well as and for as long as possible.

El Dorado county is one of the fastest growing counties in California, and over 30,000 folks here are over 65. This is double compared to 1989.

The Older Adults Task Force has been publishing a Resource Directory of available services since 1989. The 2007 edition has been distributed by the good folks at Elder Options on 82 Main Street in Placerville. Their phone number is 530-626-6939, and single copies are available free to older adults and their families.

You can have one mailed by calling, or pick one up at their office. All 31 pages of the directory are available at their website, and can be viewed or downloaded here.